Is this series win over Sri Lanka just papering over the cracks in our ODI team?

[msb314]

I’m gonna stick my neck out but call it as it is.

This series win was great but major questions still remain.

I”ll start off with the positives and mention that Imam has been a pleasant surprise and the form of Babar has ensured the batting is setting up decent totals and chasing down whatever SL throw at us.

Bowling has been outstanding too with Hasan leading the bowling and Junaid, Hafeez and Shadab all being very economical

Now with the negatives and the obvious elephant in the room which is Sarfraz’ batting in ODI’s during the last 6 months. He is struggling for form and IMO changing his batting position to no. 4 will do nothing as he is limited anyway. Perhaps a case could be made for him to open due to Shehzad’s struggles but Imam’s century will ensure he will obviously get more chances. Fakhar is unconvincing too but will rightfully get more chances due to his CT heroics. Sarfraz is hence in No Man’s Land and unfortunately I do not see a simple solution as he is also captain.

Hafeez will forever remain in our history books due to him playing a major part in our CT victory but I remain unconvinced about his role moving forward. I just cannot see him accelerating like he did in the CT final consistently as it is required in modern day cricket. Haris is the obvious replacement and can play attacking cricket as seen during the Zimbabwe series and is a natural middle order batsman who can bowl a bit. His prowess against pace bowling will make him worth as much as gold during ODI series in Aus/SAF/NZ and the 2019 WC!

I remain unconvinced about Imad’s role in the team as well since he rarely contributes with the bat and his bowling is ineffective too. Would like to see him used a pinch hitter but unfurotunately I have yet to see him score fast consistently to justify such a promotion. Too early to tell about Fahim...

One last thing is why does the PCB play 3 ODI’s in Abu Dhabi and Dubai which are the slowest and lowest wickets known to mankind!! We will encounter no such wickets during the 2019 WC and during foreign tours.

PCB if you are reading this - please schedule all of our ODI’s in sharjah which is at least flat so we can become conducive to attacking stroke play and large totals that are common in SAF/NZ/Australia and the 2019 WC!

Discuss fellow PP’ers!

 

[Amjid Javed]

I think this ODI series should be seen as one for young/new players to find their feet and put in some decent performances.

Players like hafeez need to shipped out as long term hes just going to be a passenger in the side. Haris sohail needs to be brought bacj into side. Azhar ali needs to be kept away from squad also.. rested/injured dont care what reason for current exclusion is hes not an odi player and shouldnt be recalled.

The captains batting position is an issue and his role as accumulator should be higher in order.

Also middle order power hitting options need to be looked at as overall we are lacking that x factor hitter who csn do damage at tail end of an inns.

 

[ManFan]

Agree with most of OP's points. The following line up is dangerous anywhere.
Imam
Fakhar
Azam
Sohail
Sarfraz
Hafeez ( not going anywhere, unfortunately )
Fahim
Shadab
Hasan
Amir
Junaid

 

[kingusama92]

The ODI XI is quite solid.

Just need to include Haris Sohail and Mohammad Amir (when he returns). SL is a good series to develop young talent because they seem to have given up entirely at this point.

 

[Justcrazy]

Harris in for Hafeez will make a solid XI.

 

[CricFan2012]

We will see if our fortunes have really changed when we play a string of matches against top teams, Sri Lankan team is pathetic to say the least, they were also going into the series without 4 key players if you caught the commentary during the game.

 

[ads101]

Not really. It's a good ODI side, pretty much everyone in the team is an asset, even guys like Hafeez and Imad.

Our main issue is there's too many players who arguably deserve to be in the team on merit but not enough spaces. Both Raees and Junaid are good enough to make the side, but we can likely only play one in the future. Same situation with the no.7, Imad is doing an acceptable job at 7, getting runs and going for a decent economy (plus I personally prefer a spinner at no.7 than a pace all rounder), however Fahim could arguably be better. And in the past, Hafeez's performance would be good enough to get into the team, but with Haris around, Haris seems the better option. Imam seems to have locked down the opening spot place now too, even though Azhar didn't do half bad in the CT.

Sarfraz would be better up the order, and I still maintain he's one of our better ODI batsmen. He's batting lower more to accomodate the specialist batsmen who are performing well. Which is fine. You can argue you would swap his and Hafeez's positions, but if you'd want Haris in for Hafeez, you'd switch back round the positions and demote Sarfraz back down to 6. There's not much you can do about it, especially given there's no longer a free opening spot for now. Not a huge problem, and someone has to bat at 6, and we don't have a wealth of batsmen capable of it.

 

[KyoOne]

You have not even mentioned our main problem, which is slow paced batting. Both Imam and Babar are too slow for the modern game, two of our investments for the future, and most of others cant go at 100 plus SR from the word go. It will not be always that we'll be bailed out by our bowling, there will be many times we'll have to chase scores of over 320, which is something beyond our team's capabilities.

Still a long road away

 

[waleed88]

There is only one elephant in the room that has always been there

Will be make a side that will consistently chase 300?

This side unfortunately is still not good enough to do that.

How long will Hasan Ali's/Shadab's purple patch last?

We will definitely get a bad day in the bowling department

 

[Suleiman]

We finally have a young ODI team. Took us about 6 years to realize who to invest in after the 2011 WC.

Better late than never. But never late is better.- Drake 2013 [MENTION=139150]aliasad1998[/MENTION]

 

[marlonbrowndo]

We finally have a young ODI team. Took us about 6 years to realize who to invest in after the 2011 WC.

Better late than never. But never late is better.- Drake 2013 [MENTION=139150]aliasad1998[/MENTION]

I'll hand it to him. That's a good line even if he didn't write it

 

[msb314]

You have not even mentioned our main problem, which is slow paced batting. Both Imam and Babar are too slow for the modern game, two of our investments for the future, and most of others cant go at 100 plus SR from the word go. It will not be always that we'll be bailed out by our bowling, there will be many times we'll have to chase scores of over 320, which is something beyond our team's capabilities.

Still a long road away

There is only one elephant in the room that has always been there

Will be make a side that will consistently chase 300?

This side unfortunately is still not good enough to do that.

How long will Hasan Ali's/Shadab's purple patch last?

We will definitely get a bad day in the bowling department

I'll give the team the benefit of the doubt considering we almost made 300 whilst batting first on a slow wicket in Dubai whilst the other two games we had to chase below-par totals which we did with ease.

However, concerns remains over our ability to chase 300+ as well as bat opposition out of the game by posting 350+ totals. We just don't have the big hitters for that except maybe Fahim or Hafeez on his good day. On flat wickets - we will definitely take a beating by the likes of England/Aus and SAF.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

When the top order collapsed in 2nd ODI there was only babar and shadab to save them from an embarrassment is an indication that hafeez and Malik will not be able to rescue when a bowler like steyn or starc is on a rampage. It is the case for players like Azhar and Haris are needed. The team is shaping up well, looking for a series with SA soon which PCB is in talks with. Would bring more things to discuss.

 

[IAJ]

You have not even mentioned our main problem, which is slow paced batting. Both Imam and Babar are too slow for the modern game, two of our investments for the future, and most of others cant go at 100 plus SR from the word go. It will not be always that we'll be bailed out by our bowling, there will be many times we'll have to chase scores of over 320, which is something beyond our team's capabilities.

Still a long road away

You are also missing a point bro, when a team scores 320 against us, that wicket will be very good for batting and when the wicket is good for batting you wont find many better timers of the ball than Babar Azam. His career SR is close to 90. It is only these slow wickets which are bringing down his SR and every player would struggle here. Cameos of 20-40 are not hard but eventually you will mistime and would be gone. That is not what a top order batsman is supposed to do.

 

[MenInG]

We always complain why management takes youngsters along and never gives them chances in home series

Well this series has shown what can be done

 

[Abdullah]

Look guys nobody is saying we are ready to be world beaters just yet (even though we r aftdr ct
The problem we r going to have is getting the practice in chasing 290+ scores.
For other teams they get plenty of practice but our bowling is so damn clutch we only concede this bowling first once in a blue moon. even india only got there because amir got injured in 1st ct game.
Dojt give me examples of 444 and 360 vs aus because there was no shadab/hafeez then and they complete the bowling attack and there is ni wahab now.

Sarfi should bat at 4, especially now that imam is probably going to get a run. Previously i would have said 2 dashing openers followed by babar then hafeez/haris but now with imam our number 4 can afford to be a risque bat and sarfaraz is perfect at upping the tempo in the middle by sweeping spin and attacking the weak links in the middle

 

[Abdullah]

When the top order collapsed in 2nd ODI there was only babar and shadab to save them from an embarrassment is an indication that hafeez and Malik will not be able to rescue when a bowler like steyn or starc is on a rampage. It is the case for players like Azhar and Haris are needed. The team is shaping up well, looking for a series with SA soon which PCB is in talks with. Would bring more things to discuss.

I hope that happens but i heard sa would only consider aus ind or eng because anybody else wouod be loss making.
I would love for a 3 match odi series against the saffers. Would be great for our development

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

We are developing nicely. Need to find a fast bowling AR before the world cup.